- The UK’s Cheshire West and Chester Council has announced a major planned installation of chargepoints across its borough, following approval from the Department for Transport to launch a procurement process to find a charge point operator, with a government grant of £2,049,000.
- This rollout is designed primarily to support local residents who don’t have access to off-street charging at home, helping to drive EV adoption in all households within the borough.
- The scheme will allow for the installation of at least 800 public charge points across the area, taking place over a five year period between 2025 and 2030.
UK council plans major boost to public charging infrastructure
In line with Cheshire West and Chester Council’s own EV strategy, the first of these installations will be in council-owned car parks. Following from this, chargers will also be installed on the street, in residential locations which are beyond a comfortable walking distance from a council car park.
The CPO who will deliver these charging points is yet to be decided, with the council expected to launch such a procurement process before the end of the month. The first charger installations from the scheme are then expected to arrive from 2025.
The government’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund will deliver similar actions across other councils in the UK, helping to contribute to the planned target of 300,000 countrywide public chargers by 2030 – a target that the nation is already on track for, even though regional disparities remain. A glance at the LEVI funding list shows a significant number of projects still under development or final approval.
Councillor Carol Gahan, Cabinet Member for Legal and Finance, commented on the progress:
“This is wonderful news and another step forward for our EV Strategy. This funding will support residents who have a lack of off-street charging capability. The funding will develop a public EV charging infrastructure network over the next 20 years across the borough, with around at least 800 public charge points spread across the whole borough.”
